High school track and field: Gilmour boys, Berkshire girls ready for busy state meet

By
Jeff Schudel, The News-Herald & The Morning Journal

Friday, May 30, 2014

NAVARRE — There were no major surprises among the area teams at the Division III track and field meet on May 30, and for the Gilmour boys and Berkshire girls, that is the way it was supposed to be.
The Gilmour boys steamrolled their way to the meet championship, posting 85 points to finish 15 points ahead of Warren JFK.
The Berkshire girls finished 11th with 28 points, but they are going to be busy next weekend in Columbus, too.
The Badgers qualified in the 4x400-meter relay on May 30 and two days earlier finished in the top four in the 4x800 to earn a berth at the state meet.
Also on May 30, Cristin Dornback finished second in the 800in 2:19.75 and Melissa Koziol was fourth in 2:20.92. Both are juniors.
Dornback ran the anchor on the 4x400 and leaned to beat the Rittman anchor by .06 seconds. She and Koziol, plus Koziol’s twin sister Suzanne and Kylie Scott made up the relay team.
“I knew what we were capable of doing, so it’s pretty much what I expected,” Badgers coach Julie Cole said. “We have two relays and the two open events. They’re tough. We put up with a lot of stuff other teams don’t have to put up with. They’re a hard-working group of blue-collar kids.”
Berkshire does not have a track. The Badgers train at Chardon when they can and work out at the fairgrounds, in the school hallways and a parking lot.
Aziza Cranfield of Villa Angela St. Joseph finished fourth in the 100 in 12.96 seconds, edging out the fifth-place finisher by .02 seconds.
“I was nervous,” she said. “Usually I run better than that. I cried a little bit when I found out I made it.”
But the day belonged to the vaunted Gilmour boys, led by Cornell-bound Alex Clapacs, who finished third in the 1,600 and second in the 800. He ran the first leg of Gilmour’s winning 4x800 team on May 28.
Clapacs wasn’t the only Gilmour star, however. Paul-Henry Schoenhagen and Ishmael Hargrove finished 1-2 in the 400. Both also ran on the winning 4x400 team and on the 4x200 team.
“Warren JFK is going to be our main competition next week at the state meet,” Gilmour coach Jim Chappelle said. “We have a great versatile team. We scored in the hurdles, the sprints, the jumps, the throws, distance and the relays. We’re going down to Columbus with a good chance to score and do well.”
The state meet is June 6 and 7 at Ohio State.